Practice Test for PSYC 200
Program Final

1. In an experiment, the variable that is
controlled or manipulated by the researcher is called the
__________ variable.

A. dependent
B. independent
C. control
D. stimulus

2. A researcher wants to see if a
protein-enriched diet will enhance the maze-running
performance of rats. One group of rats is fed the
high-protein diet for the duration of the study; the other
group continues to receive ordinary rat chow. In this
experiment, the diet fed to the two groups of rats is the
__________ variable.

A. correlated
B. control
C. dependent
D. independent

3. The case study is a research method in which
the investigator:

A. manipulates a single independent variable
B. observes behavior as it occurs in its natural environment
C. conducts an in-depth investigation of an individual subject
D. conducts an in-depth investigation of a single hypothesis

4. Variability refers to:

A. the degree of relationship between two
variables
B. how much the scores in a data set depart from the mean
score
C. the "typical" or "average" score in a data set
D. the probability that an outcome is due to chance

5. High scores on variable X are associated
with high scores on variable Y and low scores on variable X
are associated with low scores on variable Y. Hence, the
correlation between variables X and Y will be:

A. negative
B. positive
C. zero
D. spurious

6. __________ statistics are used to interpret
data and draw conclusions.

8. The area of the frontal lobe that plays an
important role in the production of speech is called:

A. Wernicke's area
B. Broca's area
C. Cannon's area
D. Sperry's area

9. Which part of the brain seems to play a
major role in the work of artists, architects, and
engineers, who must rely heavily on visual-spatial skills?

A. the right hemisphere
B. the left hemisphere
C. cerebellum
D. corpus callosum

10. Classical conditioning is a type of
learning in which:

A. responses come to be controlled by their
consequences
B. an organism's responding is influenced by the observation
of others' behavior
C. an organism engages in a response that brings aversive
stimulation to an end
D. a neutral stimulus acquires the ability to elicit a
response that was originally elicited by another stimulus

11. The continued presentation of the CS
without the UCS will result in the gradual disappearance of
the CR. This phenomenon is known as:

A. inhibition
B. suppression
C. extinction
D. conditioned forgetting

12. Watson and Rayner (1920) conditioned
"Little Albert" to fear white rats by banging a hammer on a
steel bar as he played with a white rat. Later, it was
discovered that Albert feared not only white rats, but white
stuffed toys and Santa's beard as well. Albert's fear of
these other objects can be attributed to:

A. responses come to be controlled by their
consequences
B. an organism's responding is influenced by the observation
of others' behavior
C. an organism engages in a response that brings aversive
stimulation to an end
D. a neutral stimulus acquires the ability to elicit a
response that was originally elicited by another stimulus

14. A child discovers that her classmates stop
taunting her if she just ignores them. This is an example
of:

A. shaping
B. acquisition
C. extinction
D. stimulus discrimination

15. Intermittent reinforcement occurs when:

A. some behaviors but not others are
reinforced
B. no set schedule of reinforcement is used
C. a reinforcer is delivered every so often, regardless of the
organism's responses
D. a designated response is reinforced only some of the time

16. Observational learning is a type of
learning in which:

A. responses come to be controlled by their
consequences
B. an organism's responding is influenced by the observation
of others' behavior
C. an organism engages in a response that brings aversive
stimulation to an end
D. a neutral stimulus acquires the ability to elicit a
response that was originally elicited by another stimulus

17. You are absorbed in reading your psychology
text when the phone rings. After talking on the phone, you
can't remember the last thing you read. This information was
lost from __________ memory, because the phone conversation
distracted you from __________ the information.

A. people forget information because of
competition from other material
B. forgetting is due to ineffective encoding
C. the principal cause of forgetting should be the passage of
time
D. the events that occur during the retention interval do not
affect forgetting

19. Procedural memory:

A. is memory for factual information
B. is memory for actions, skills, and operations
C. is made up of chronological recollections of personal
experiences
D. contains general knowledge that is not temporally dated

20. A primacy effect probably occurs because
the initial items in a list:

A. can no longer be retrieved from sensory
storage
B. are still available in short-term storage
C. have had the most opportunity for rehearsal
D. are paid less attention than later items

21. The work of researchers like Bartlett and
Loftus on errors in memory suggests that memory is best
viewed as:

A. a tape recording
B. storage on a computer disc
C. a literal record of events
D. a reconstruction of events or materials

22. If a test has good test-retest reliability:

A. there is a strong correlation between items
on the test
B. it accurately measures what it says it measures
C. it can be used to predict future performance
D. the test yields similar scores if taken at two different
times

23. If a test accurately measures what it was
designed to measure, we would say that the test is:

A. valid
B. empirical
C. normative
D. consistent

24. Binet and Simon devised the first
intelligence test in 1905 in order to:

A. predict the school performance of children
B. predict future life success
C. provide support for the belief that intelligence is
genetically determined
D. provide support for the belief that intelligence is
environmentally determined

25. Since IQ scores are assumed to be normally
distributed, an IQ score of 100 would put you:

A. to the left of the center of the normal
curve
B. at the center of the normal curve
C. to the right of the center of the normal curve
D. somewhere on the curve, your exact location depending on
the performance of others taking the test with you

26. Research on gifted individuals have
shown that gifted children:

A. tend to be below average in physical and
emotional health
B. tend to be above average in physical and emotional health
C. become adults who are no more successful than average
D. tend to conform to society?s traditional view of the gifted

27. Developmental psychology is primarily
concerned with:

A. an analysis of individual differences in
behavior
B. an analysis of species differences in behavior
C. the role of learning in behavior
D. those aspects of behavior that change over the lifespan

28. The close, emotional bond of affection
between an infant and its caregiver is called:

A. attachment
B. dependency
C. imprinting
D. identification

29. One-year-old Tommy is extremely distressed whenever his
mother leaves him, yet resists her attempts to comfort him
when she returns. Tommy probably has ___________ to his
mother.

A. stages that are characterized by
fundamentally different thought processes
B. increases in the quantity, but not the quality, of
knowledge with age
C. passive reception of environmental stimuli
D. all of the above

31. According to Piaget, during the formal
operations period of cognitive development, children begin
to:

A. acquire the concept of conservation
B. understand the nature of hierarchical classification
C. think primarily in terms of concrete objects or situations
D. think in terms of abstract principles and hypothetical
possibilities

32. In Erikson's theory, the psychosocial
crisis during adolescence is:

34. Failure to resolve conflict at a particular
stage of psychosexual development may lead to failure to
move forward psychologically, a phenomenon that Freud
called:

A. fixation
B. displacement
C. reciprocal determinism
D. compensation

35. Howard sets extremely high standards for
both himself and others. He tends to be rigid and inflexible
and rarely allows himself to enjoy life. Freud would
probably conclude that Howard is dominated by:

A. his superego
B. his id
C. his ego
D. penis envy

36. According to Carl Rogers, if your
self-concept is reasonably accurate, it is said to be:

A. congruent
B. self-actualized
C. extraverted
D. valid

37. A friend tells you that he recently
responded to a personality inventory with about 550 items
that indicated that his level of depression was above
normal. He probably took:

41. Mary believes that while she sleeps at
night, space creatures are attacking her and invading her
uterus, where they will multiply until they are ready to
take over the world. Mary was chosen for this task, she
believes, because she is the only one with the power to help
the space creatures succeed. Mary would most likely be
diagnosed as __________ schizophrenic.

A. paranoid
B. catatonic
C. disorganized
D. undifferentiated

42. Insanity:

A. is a psychiatric diagnosis
B. is a legal concept
C. exists when a mental disorder makes a person unable to
distinguish right from wrong
D. b and c

43. The goal of behavior therapy is to:

A. identify the early childhood unconscious
conflicts that are the source of the client's symptoms
B. change the client's thought patterns so that negative
emotions can be controlled
C. alter the frequency of specific problematic responses by
using conditioning techniques
D. alter the client's brain chemistry by prescribing specific
drugs

44. Transference:

A. occurs when the client makes conscious
attempts to hinder the progress of therapy
B. refers to the client's redirection toward the therapist of
unconscious emotional reactions originally felt toward
others
C. involves transferring memories of past traumatic
experiences to current dreams
D. occurs when the therapist treats the client as if the
client was an important authority figure

45. Systematic desensitization is particularly
effective for the treatment of __________ disorders.

A. generalized anxiety
B. panic
C. obsessive-compulsive
D. phobic

46. Putting group goals ahead of personal
goals and defining one's identity in terms of the groups one
belongs to is called:

A. collectivism
B. functionalism
C. individualism
D. attributionism

47. Cognitive dissonance:

A. is a state of tension produced when related
cognitions are inconsistent
B. is a feeling of discomfort experienced by receivers of
persuasive communications
C. is a feeling of guilt produced by engaging in
counterattitudinal behavior
D. occurs only when cognitions are unrelated to each other

48. Widely held beliefs about groups of people
based on their group membership defines: